The present invention relates to a rice cooker and, more particularly, it relates to a rice cooker whose lid can be automatically opened by an urging member.
The rice cooker conventionally comprises a body for housing a heater, and a pot which is heated by the heater, a lid hinged to the body that can freely open or close, and a lock mechanism for holding the lid closed. The lid can be opened by releasing the lock mechanism and by holding and lifting the grip of the lid. There has been recently considered a rice cooker wherein a torsion coil spring is arranged at the hinged portion of the lid, one end of the spring being engaged with the body while the other end thereof being engaged with the lid, to force the lid to open, so that the lid can be automatically opened when the lid is released from the lock mechanism. This rice cooker makes it unnecessary to lift the lid by hand, that is, the user is freed from using unnecessary force to lift the lid.
The above-described rice cooker is satisfactory when considered from the viewpoint of convenience but it has the following problem when considered from the viewpoint of construction. In using the torsion coil spring, a great amount of stress is concentrated in those portions of the lid and body which are in contact with the ends of the spring. Therefore, these portions of the lid and body must be particularly reinforced against stress. The design and manufacture of the rice cooker becomes complicated accordingly, making the cost higher. In addition, the life of the torsion coil spring itself is relatively short and is not reliable over time.